Selected Publications

Professor Nan Yao is the founding director of Princeton University’s Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC) and an Inaugural Professor of the Practice. He is internationally recognized for transformative contributions to materials science, advanced microscopy, and interdisciplinary education. Over more than three decades, Yao has advanced the frontiers of science and engineering through groundbreaking research, global outreach, and the mentorship of students, researchers, and professionals across disciplines.

After earning his Ph.D. in applied physics and electron microscopy from Arizona State University under pioneering microscopist John M. Cowley, Yao began his career in industry, first at Shell Development Company and later at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. In 1993, he joined Princeton University to help establish its interdisciplinary Microscopy Program, which evolved into today’s IAC. Under his leadership, the IAC has become a world-class materials characterization facility, praised by an NSF-MRSEC review committee as “among the best in the world for advanced imaging and analysis of materials”.

Yao is best known for his co-discovery of the first natural quasicrystal, a once-in-a-generation breakthrough that resolved a longstanding debate in solid-state physics. Building on Dan Shechtman’s 1982 discovery of synthetic quasicrystals (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2011), Yao played a central role in determining whether such structures could also occur in nature, completing what is regarded as the “second chapter” of Shechtman’s groundbreaking work. Beginning in the late 1990s, he collaborated with Paul J. Steinhardt and then undergraduate Peter J. Lu on a systematic diffraction-based search that led to a 2001 paper in Physical Review Letters, launching the field’s first sustained hunt for natural quasicrystals. In 2008, mineralogist Luca Bindi identified a promising sample from the Koryak Mountains, and Yao’s expertise in electron microscopy proved decisive in producing the first images and diffraction data, confirming icosahedral symmetry, establishing the phase’s structure and stability, and demonstrating that the material formed under natural high-pressure, high-temperature conditions. Published in Science (2009) and cited in the 2011 Nobel Prize press release, this work transformed a theoretical possibility into verified natural evidence and redefined the boundaries of crystallography in natural materials. In 2015, his microscopy was again pivotal in identifying a second natural quasicrystal with decagonal symmetry, also formed under cosmic conditions. Together, these discoveries opened new frontiers for studying alloy formation under extreme environments and provided rare insight into the earliest materials of the solar system, formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago.

Beyond this landmark achievement, Yao’s research has delivered numerous firsts: the first direct real-space visualization of electron orbital signatures within individual atoms (2023); development of the first 300 keV environmental-cell transmission electron microscope (1991); a theoretical explanation for the superior resolution of helium-ion microscopy over SEM (2008); and the first direct demonstration of mechanically breaking a single dative bond (2021), revealing new insights into force-driven chemical reactivity at the single-atom scale. His work has also pushed back the origin of animals by ~100 million years through the discovery of a 650-million-year-old sponge-like fossil (2010) and identified the earliest known use of diamond, dating to 4000 BC (2005). He coauthored the opening paper of Nano Letters’ inaugural issue (2001), underscoring his broad impact on nanomaterials research.

Yao integrates advanced imaging, diffraction, spectroscopy, and in-situ methods with computational modeling to investigate structure–composition–processing–property relationships in complex materials for nanotechnology, energy, environmental, and health applications. He has authored two widely used books (Handbook of Microscopy for Nanotechnology and Focused Ion Beam System: Basics and Applications), 18 book chapters, and over 330 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals, including many in Science, Nature, and Physical Review Letters. Collaborating with more than 60 research groups at Princeton, he has also partnered extensively with numerous industry leaders, including ExxonMobil, DuPont, GE, Merck, Colgate-Palmolive, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as many start-ups. He founded Princeton’s first industrial seminar series and the Princeton–Nature Conference Series (2018, 2022, 2024), Frontiers in Electron Microscopy for the Physical and Life Sciences, which convenes global leaders to explore emerging microscopy technologies.

A dedicated educator, Yao has taught over 5,000 students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty members, and has received 14 Princeton Teaching Awards, including the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Commendation for Outstanding Teaching. In 2024, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber praised his “extraordinary and unusual record of sustained excellence, even by Princeton’s high standards.” Yao designed and leads Princeton’s materials characterization curriculum, created an outreach program of free workshops and short courses that have trained students worldwide, and has taught more than 800 industrial scientists from 140+ companies. His training of the first generation of electron microscopists in several African countries has significantly expanded global scientific capacity, with his mentees going on to win Rhodes, Fulbright, and Hertz Fellowships, as well as NSF Graduate Research Fellowships and MSA and MRS Student Awards.

Yao is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS), and the Microscopy Society of America (MSA). Through his pioneering discoveries, innovative methodologies, and commitment to mentorship, he continues to bridge fundamental science with real-world applications while shaping the next generation of leaders in materials science and beyond.

Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey Zip: 08544 United States of America

Imaging and Analysis Center Andlinger Center, Room 033 86 Olden Street Phone: 609-258-6394 Email: nyao@princeton.edu

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